Maria R: Mary Queen of Scots : The Crucial Years

Book Description

He was often nonchalant and unfocused, showing up minutes before a game. He was rumored to get himself ejected so he could get to the racetrack. He was feisty, and abusive towards umpires even by today's standards. And he's among the best shortstops ever to play the game. "Bad Bill" Dahlen retired having played in more games than anyone in major league history; he was in the top ten for walks, extra base hits, RBI's and stolen bases; and he led all shortstops in games, assists, putouts and double plays. He starred in both the 19th century and the deadball era, and managed as well. He's a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame, right? Wrong. Player after player with lower career ratings has been admitted, yet Dahlen has been ignored. Maybe time has clouded memories of the brilliance of this offensive dynamo and master of his position—but how much longer can it be before Bad Bill Dahlen takes his rightful place in Cooperstown?

This examination of Bill Dahlen's career as a player and manager highlights his strengths and weaknesses, personal and professional. Chronicling his achievements and placing him in context with the greats of all time, it makes a strong case that Bill Dahlen is a Hall of Fame shortstop, head and shoulders above many inductees. Seventeen chapters and 49 photographs trace his career; appendices compare his numbers to his Hall of Fame contemporaries, Hall of Fame shortstops, and list his lifetime batting and fielding statistics. Notes, a bibliography and an index are included.

Customer Reviews:

Fine book without the pitch.......2006-01-01

It seems that every baseball bio lately has a "reason" for being written apart from giving us the life of the baseball player. Ed Delahanty's bio is really a promotional story for the Irish in baseball in the 1890s. The book about about the world champion 1940 Reds has a running subtext about the back-up catcher who committed suicide. But the most frequent "rationale" for doing baseball bios now is for SABR members to make a pitch for their favorite research target to be sent to the Hall of Fame.

While a recent book about the Ferrell brothers went over the top to try to convince HOF voters that Wes Ferrell was a greater pitcher than he really was, Lyle Spatz is somewhat more even-keeled in Bad Bill Dahlen. This book, while depending heavily on contemporary newspaper accounts, is good at presenting the day-to-day feel of baseball as it was played in the closing part of the 19th, and the early 20th centuries.

Baseball bios drawn largely from newspaper accounts of games often become tedious: "Our hero had two doubles and a triple in four at bats in the May 23 game, making a running catch in the sixth inning..." and so forth. Just a few sentences like this begin to send the reader to the Sand Man's realm. Spatz avoids this trap, spicing up game events, recounting well known and obscure anecdotes in entertaining fashion. Even when Bad Bill is ejected a tenth time in a season, the reader doesn't tire of reading why and how.

For getting your teeth into what playing the sport was really like over a hundred years ago, I cannot recommend a better book. I have also always liked Bad Bill myself, but I simply cannot buy into his belonging in the HOF. His shortstop contemporaries who are there really were all his superior in any given year: Hughie Jennings, Honus Wagner, George Davis. If we must choose fairly contemorary figures who are being undeservedly excluded from the Hall, then let's have bios of Harry Stovey, Sherry Magee, maybe even Cy Seymour. Among 19th century shortstops alone, Herman Long and Jack Glasscock have better credentials.

Book Description

Today the National Film Board has an international reputation as one of the great producers of documentary films. In its early formative years in the 1940s, when this reputation was being built, the NFB was also a place of intense creative energy and excitement, a period that has been called its "golden age." Fuelled by wartime enthusiasm and led by the legendary John Grierson, by 1945 the NFB had won its first of many Oscars and had become one of the largest film studios in the world.

Graham McInnes was part of the team of talented young men and women recruited by Grierson to build the NFB. A member of an unconventional family of writers and artists (his great-grandfather was the Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones), McInnes had worked as a journalist at the CBC and Saturday Night before joining the NFB. After WW II, he became a diplomat (he was Canadaís first ambassador to UNESCO) and a successful novelist. Although McInnes published three volumes of memoirs, this memoir of the birth of the NFB was not published in his lifetime.

One Man's Documentary is a lively account of one of the most exciting periods in Canadian filmmaking. With style and verve, McInnes paints vivid portraits of Grierson and the others who helped make the NFB an international institution. Film historian Gene Walz's introduction gives a full picture of the early history of the NFB as well as an account of McInnes's fascinating life.

Average customer rating:

A disappointing philosophical meandering.

Don't bother me until you're better read

Interesting and eye opening read

Extremely thought provoking

some serious consequences of picking up chicken.

Nation of Rebels: Why Counterculture Became Consumer Culture
Joseph Heath , and Andrew Potter
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Theory | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Consumer Behavior | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism

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Commodify Your Dissent: Salvos from the Baffler

ASIN: 006074586X
Release Date: 2004-12-14

Book Description

In this wide-ranging and perceptive work of cultural criticism, Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter shatter the most important myth that dominates much of radical political, economic, and cultural thinking. The idea of a counterculture -- a world outside of the consumer-dominated world that encompasses us -- pervades everything from the antiglobalization movement to feminism and environmentalism. And the idea that mocking or simply hoping the "system" will collapse, the authors argue, is not only counterproductive but has helped to create the very consumer society radicals oppose.

In a lively blend of pop culture, history, and philosophical analysis, Heath and Potter offer a startlingly clear picture of what a concern for social justice might look like without the confusion of the counterculture obsession with being different.

Customer Reviews:

A disappointing philosophical meandering........2007-09-13

This book fails to fulfill it's promise.

I thought this was going to be a historical explanation of "Why Counterculture Became Consumer Culture". It is not. At 366 pages, it is a whirlwind tour of popular philosophy (with a little psychoanalysis and economic theory thrown in), applied in broad strokes to the idea of "counterculture". It would be difficult for even a more compelling writer to satisfactorily explain even one of these topics at that short length. The authors' thesis is unclear, and at times their brief explanations of others' ideas are simply incorrect.

This book smacks of self-righteousness, and is just not very smart. It could have been an engaging, informative exploration of the factors that caused (and continue to cause) cultural rebellion to feed the very culture it wishes to negate. Instead, it is a snarky, vacuous diatribe against hippies and punks - presented as a feat of intellectual maneuvering.

For the layperson with no prior knowledge of the ideas they present (and I don't mean popular culture or punk rock), it is at best misleading. For the reader with even a basic working knowledge of the concepts at hand, it is simplistic and irritating. It has the feel of a thesis-turned-manuscript written by overzealous, grown-up-punk philosophy students - and I suspect that that is exactly what it is.

Don't bother me until you're better read.......2006-12-07

This is the reason why I never went into the philosophy department at my university. There's far too much supposition, superstition, and plain old bunk, and far too little accurate history, or concrete science to call this anything other than 336 pages of opinion.(EG: most of their examples are movies released within the past 10 years, to try to explain the motives and mindset of over 200 years worth of thinking! I think the very definition of "failing to research" would be watching the movie, instead of reading the book, yes?)
Given the nature of online reviewers, I expect very few people will agree with my review. Fair enough. But, I wouldn't suggest this book to anyone. It's ideology masked as overview. If you're interested in the idea of how revolutionaries become reactionaries, and in how fire-breathing professional agitators actually support the system they are trying to overthrow, you'll be sorely underwhelmed with the arguments. If, however, you're a neoconservative trying to rationalize your myopia, this will be a great addition to your collection of Bill O'Reilly transcripts.This was a complete waste of my money, and time.

Interesting and eye opening read.......2006-10-23

I've never been an anti-consumer/culture jammer so I wasn't really offended by the book's dismantling of the "Rebellion" thought process. It was very interesting how they picked apart the anti-capitalist mentality.

One of the main points the authors make, is that no matter what we do as consumers, we feed capitalism. There really is no escape. Everything we do, eat and purchase drives consumerism somewhere in the world. So, no matter how "anti-consumer" or "anti-capitalist" you think you are by eating certain foods and buying certain brands, in the end, you've affected not one corporation.

It's a very interesting read, and really opened my eyes to how I think about consumerism. The book also dives pretty deep into other Ideologies such as Marxism.

I think the authors stay true to the subject at hand and do a pretty good job of staying in the middle of the road politically. Yes, they use some left-wingers as examples, but doesn't make this a anti-liberal book.

Extremely thought provoking.......2006-06-05

This is an insightful and important book. Its main impact for me was to expose many of the prevelant counter-culture ideas/philosophies/attitudes (ones that have influenced me) as logically incoherent and ineffectual. After reading this book I feel closer to the truth and what more can you ask for from this kind of book? Solutions, maybe?? The only solution according to the authors is to get involved in the democratic process.

My only minor gripe about this book is that I wish they hadn't gone on about The Matrix quite as much.

some serious consequences of picking up chicken........2006-03-18

so one of these guys was born in 1967, but still "came of age in the late 1970s," grew up on a farm in saskatoon, has picked up a chicken, but apparently nobody -else- in the late 1970s, & was unable to do so because he didnt know the rules.

& the other one of these guys was born in 1970, was an army brat, but still had purple hair, a nose piercing & maybe a burberry raincoat, fluevogs & either docs or the other ones, & certainly wasnt trying to pick up a chick in the late 1970s, even w/ bad or -bad- boots, because that would really be too young-- anyway, he's from toronto, & at one point, he had a bicycle over his head, only he doesnt want it there any more.

i think i have that right. or approximately.

& i would say neither of them knows much about the counterculture, but that is not true. what they know, & know well, is the counterculture after it has been relentlessly marketed. & that has been since the late 70s, &, mostly since video killed the radio star: 1981.

because it can be claimed, but not well, that although intellectuals may have thought & wanted a lot of things [guy debord? people all over the world, & lots of them, were spending A LOT OF TIME listening to guy debord? when? before the 70s?] the world itself was not listening to guy debord, in the states it was electing richard nixon, fighting the viet nam war, & building Levittowns. &, while although there was protest, & there was a "youth movement," & people had, finally, begun to question all of this, to use just one basic example, before "easy rider" was made -nobody- expected it to be a hit. it was a "little" movie. it was a "biker" movie. yep, there was an upsurgence of rebel movies in the 60s, early 70s. & art, & music & all the rest of it-- what happened, unfortunately, from this is what always happens, the market took notice & that was when the market BEGAN to MOVE. it took a while to get to the point where the RebelMarket earned the place it has today. OH, GOOD.

& so now we have the RebelMarket, now that the polltakers, & the previewers, & all the people the authors like a lot better than i do have come in. the marketers of every stripe & variation. & they HAVE leeched the creativity out of the arts. no question about it. & the UrbanMarket is only the VERY, VERY worst of the markets-- it has been here the longest now, & is the most politically specious, & terribly insidious.

but they do discuss this, for a very short time. & whichever it is that does, gets it right, the same way they do the dreadful, & dreadfully corrupt kalle lasn.

not the way they do w/ the ideas that:

barnes & noble brought comfortable chairs & coffee to bookshops!

or:

a prop to wal-mart!

WAL-MART!

[come on! there is such a thing as swinging WAY too far the other way!]

or:

couldnt they have, at some point, just ASKED baudrillard his thoughts on windshield wiper blades? if they really had to know? even this old punkrocker was talking to him in 1997. dont know whats happened to him since.....

or (heh-heh):

that nobody has thought of telling people to get treppanned!

(check out amanda fielding. really. check out her VIDEOTAPE)

or:

there was NO good to the 60s hippie culture. i think they even have what YIPPIE stands for wrong.

or:

wearing converse high tops was the same as wearing nikes. even if they were hawked by julius erving.

come again? high-tops? on joey ramone? did he buy them NEW? where'd he get the money? especially at first. punkrockers NEVER had any money. we really DID live on the street, or dxmned close.

not like:

first generation punkrockers all had multiple ear-piercings.

um, were you there?

you were there in *1988*.

&, in fact, most of these guys' observations-- everything they didnt read-- come from around that time, which INVALIDATES a lot of it. it gets more & more frightening, at least to this corespondent, how much is assumed about how culture functioned in times that one writes about that one does not know.

Average customer rating:

Bringing the Western to the RPG

Sidewinder Recoiled

Mythic Vistas: Sidewinder: Recoiled (Mythic Vistas)
Bradley W. Hindman , Geoff Spakes , Christopher S. Warner , Karl Keesler , and Thomas L. Gregory
Manufacturer: Green Ronin Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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d20 Modern Roleplaying Game: Core Rulebook

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ASIN: 1932442340

Book Description

Sidewinder: Recoiled is the ENnie Award winning d20 game of the Wild West by Dog House Rules. Capture the cinematic action and adventure of your favorite western movies, novels, and TV shows using this complete set of rules. Create courageous gunslingers, low-down rustlers, or high stakes gamblers and test your mettle out on the frontier. Sidewinder: Recoiled takes the d20 Modern rules and customizes them for Wild West action. This rulebook contains everything you need for active gameplay, including: Complete basic classes, skills, and feats. Weapons and equipment for the real Wild West, from tomahawks and dynamite to Colt Peacemakers and Winchester rifles. 19 new advanced classes, like bounty Hunter, Desperado, Maverick, and Tin Star. Complete rules for combat and critters. Excerpts from Bat Masterson's Famous Gun Fighters of the Western Frontier so you can learn about the Wild West from a man who lived it! Sidewinder: Recoiled is the definitive d20 treatment of the Wild West. Beware of fool's gold! So saddle up, strap on your hog-leg, and pull your hat down low. You're fixin' to ride into the REAL Wild West of Sidewinder: Recoiled! Requires the use of the d20 Modern Roleplaying Game, published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Customer Reviews:

Bringing the Western to the RPG.......2007-08-15

I was pretty impressed with this book. I have a large number of gaming modules and this one stands out in my opinion by being well written and well organized. It has possibly the best Index and Table of Contents I have seen in awhile. That might seen an odd observation, but you have looked more then one rule book, you know how rare and yet how useful those are.

Sidewinder: Recoiled builds on to the Open Game License (OGL) D20 system rules a well thought out approach to bringing Western movie genre into the RPG world. There have been other approaches, but this one sticks to a non-magical west. Dog House Rules has provided a lot of material in the book and in supplements to run a more historical western game. But, they excel at giving you the tools and options to give your campaign the Hollywood/spaghetti/pulp feel.

Whether you want the good ol' westerns like Shane, Stage Coach, The War Wagon, or True Grit ~ or if you want the grittier more mythic feel of Sergio Leone ~ or even David Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah ~ the tools are here.

There are lots of historical information and even more on their website, [...] - they also have a range of additional material available through download PDF's including Fort Griffin. A resource for a frontier town with maps, buildings, and Non Player Characters.

A great resource for anyone wanting to run a Western Themed campaign.

Sidewinder Recoiled.......2005-01-28

While it still relies the d20 moderns corebook for a few things, the game comes into its own onces your base hero (fast,tough, smart, whatever) can qualifiy for the advanced classes given. I would rather they had made the product stand alone, but as the d20 core book is only needed for the first 3 character levels and some basic rules this isn't a bad system. They also provide periodic updates and modules from their website.

If you are considering running a western's campaign and already have the d20 moderns book, I recommmend this game most highly.

Average customer rating:

Internal Affairs
sidewinder
Manufacturer: Rockfic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

INTERNAL AFFAIRS features 17 band slash stories centered around the band The Police. (Note: Neither Rockfic Press nor the author, sidewinder, are affiliated with The Police or its members. The stories contained in INTERNAL AFFAIRS are fiction.)

Average customer rating:

Sidewinder
J. T. Edson
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0425044165

Bad Guys: True Stories of Legendary Gunslingers, Sidewinders, Fourflushers, Drygulchers, Bushwhackers, Freebooters and Downright Bad Guys and Gals of the Wild w

Average customer rating:

REVISTING THE WILD WEST

Bad Guys: True Stories of Legendary Gunslingers, Sidewinders, Fourflushers, Drygulchers, Bushwhackers, Freebooters and Downright Bad Guys and Gals of the Wild w
Andrew Glass
Manufacturer: Tandem Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: School & Library Binding
ASIN: 0613284097

Book Description

Legendary gunfighters come to life in this vivid look at eight of the most ornery guys and gals of the wild West. Here are the true stories of Wild Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane, Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Belle Starr, Doc Holliday, Black Bart, and Joaquin Murietta--often a far cry from the glamorous tales they told about themselves to the newspapers.

Andrew Glass separates fact from fiction, and gives readers an overview of the rough and tumble days following the Civil War that produced these unlikely heroes. There's plenty of fun and mayhem in these larger-than-life characters, along with a good dose of the real history of an exciting period in the opening of the American West.

Customer Reviews:

REVISTING THE WILD WEST.......2000-04-08

While waiting for a haircut in a barbershop along Route 66, the author read a Police Gazette story about Doc Holliday. Since this was the most memorable experience of his fourth grade year, he was inspired to share the excitement with young readers. The stories discuss such legendary Wild West figures as Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, and Joaquin Murietta. While Glass's narrative reveals that the true facts behind these stories were greatly enhanced by eastern newspapers, his illustrations are colorful and lively enough to perk up the legendary version. Young readers will probably enjoy this subject as much as Glass did when he was a boy. Their parents may be put off by the illustrations in an era when there is a heightened awareness of guns.

Business Wire : Secure Computing Launches New 2005 Line-up of Sidewinder G2 SecurityAppliance Models.

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Business Wire : Secure Computing Launches New 2005 Line-up of Sidewinder G2 SecurityAppliance Models.

Manufacturer: Business Wire
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Word count: 1002.

Average customer rating:

Some of the best juvenile fiction written in the last 20 yrs

Jimmy D. Sidewinder and Me
Otto R. Salassi
Manufacturer: Random House Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0679801359
Release Date: 1990-03-24

Customer Reviews:

Some of the best juvenile fiction written in the last 20 yrs.......1998-01-30

This is an epistolary novel. Dumas is in jail waiting to be sentenced for manslaughter. His lawyer tells the 15 year old that he might be able to avoid prison if he can make the judge understand why he was involved in a gunfight at a poker table. The tale of this refugee from a Mississippi orphanage is wonderfully writ, with the yellowed eye of a poolroom habitue.

Average customer rating:

Jimmy D., Sidewinder, and Me
Otto D. Salassi
Manufacturer: Greenwillow Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GR0J3U

LAND BEYOND THE LAW (FBP) / SIDEWINDER SHOWDOWN (FBP)

Average customer rating:

LAND BEYOND THE LAW (FBP) / SIDEWINDER SHOWDOWN (FBP)

Manufacturer: ACE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HF0BTS

Average customer rating:

Land Beyond the Law/sidewinder Showdown

Manufacturer: Ace Double M-104
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000BF6X00

Average customer rating:

Lassiter: Sidewinder
Jack Slade
Manufacturer: Banner of Truth
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000K01JDC

Book Description

The Lean Office: Collected Practices and Cases is a compilation of articles previously published in our monthly newsletter, Lean Manufacturing Advisor. These articles discuss lean implementations in non-manufacturing operations, from design to processing invoices to customer service. Most articles are written in the form of case studies.

Highlights include:

Practical, in-depth description of lean implementation, written in a conversational, easy-to-read style A large quantity of case studies unavailable from any other single source Responds to your desire for real-world lean office information

Customer Reviews:

Not worth it.......2005-12-16

I have been involved with Lean for 10+ years and have served as an internal consultant and internal change agent for the last several years. I am always looking for material that helps me to learn about new ideas or helps others pick up the tools and concepts, but was very disappointed in this book. It is a collection of "best practices", but only touches on a few concepts from a very high level, with the "we had a problem, we waved a magic wand, and it was fixed" format. There is nothing in this book that helps you figure out how to apply the concepts to what you are working on or that gives you new ideas to try. You're much better off figuring out how to apply VSM in the office, having everyone look at the process, and then develop a future state together than trying to get anything from this book.

Takes a high-level view to encourage creative thinking .......2005-09-08

A total of eighteen chapters -- five in Part 1: Focusing on the Customer, four in Part II: Improving Flow, and nine in Part III: Taking the Right Steps.

In Parts I and II, the case studies cover the following types of office environments:

* automobile distribution * service firm * the design process * call center * restaurant operation * ambulance office * US Postal Service * design of buildings * construction projects.

In Part III, tips and ideas cover: office 5S, computer hard drive 5S, building support for Lean Office, tips for running 'white collar' kaizens, an invoicing and receiving improvement example in detail, improving flow at a technical publications company, an example of using a spreadsheet to analyze and manage a lean effort, and a publisher who requires present state and future state maps to accompany all capital expenditure requests.

Although this book is not a 'nuts and bolts' technical treatise, all in all, it is encouraging to read about the efforts and successes. Perhaps it would rate five-stars if it contained more technical instructions with the case studies. But then, you'd probably pay a lot more for it.

OK examination of lean office.......2005-08-02

Most lean office books are lean manufacturing books with the word "office" pasted in. This booklet has some of the same issues - it addresses lean manufacturing principles and calls them lean office. The structure of the book is good with titles such as "Takeaways", where the takeaways are sometimes limited: "A focus on meeting cusomer needs is critical".
Overall, this book is valuable to gather ideas about what some companies have done - it is case study based and is not in-depth or even BEST practices.

A more detailed look at lean office can be seen in Michael George's Lean Six Sigma for Service.

Product, process & lean.(MARGINAL)(Insights on Implementation: The Lean Office: Collected Practices and Cases)(Book Review): An article from: Automotive Design & Production

Average customer rating:

Product, process & lean.(MARGINAL)(Insights on Implementation: The Lean Office: Collected Practices and Cases)(Book Review): An article from: Automotive Design & Production
Gary S. Vasilash
Manufacturer: Gardner Publications, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Industry | Automotive | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000ALR4NK
Release Date: 2006-07-14

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Automotive Design & Production, published by Gardner Publications, Inc. on May 1, 2005. The length of the article is 612 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Product, process & lean.(MARGINAL)(Insights on Implementation: The Lean Office: Collected Practices and Cases)(Book Review)
Author: Gary S. Vasilash
Publication: Automotive Design & Production (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 1, 2005
Publisher: Gardner Publications, Inc.
Volume: 117 Issue: 5 Page: 8(1)

Article Type: Book Review

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